Review of The Jungle Book (2016) by Electronick — 25 Apr 2016

After hearing all of the critical praise of the remake to Disney's animated Classic I decided to check it out for myself. My personal conclusion is that it is a mixed bag. This film will keep your children entertained and it will keep you interested in a visual sense.

However if you are looking for a film that has a solid script and a film with a clear focus on what it wants to be you will be disappointed. As I said before the visuals are really stunning with an excellent use of CGI for the animals.

The film looks gorgeous as the jungle really feels alive and the animals look as realistic as they have ever been. The wolves and Bagheera in particular look realistic and it feels that you can reach out and touch him.

The color palate also pops up with bright and beautiful colors. The score is also grand with reworking of classic songs. The part of the soundtrack which really stood out was the instrumental rendition of "Trust In Me" when Mogli was discovering his past through Kaa's hypnosis.

The actors give a valiant attempt to bring life to the characters with great performances from Christopher Walken, Ben Kinglsey, Bill Murray, and Idris Elba. The film is unfortunate held back by a script which lacks any focus.

It is unsure if it wants to be an adaption of the original book or a remake of the animated film. It tries to combine elements from both works but it creates a jumbled script. For example when Mogli meets Kaa she helps Mogli get her memories back and gives him sage advise like her book counter book.

However in the next scene though she tries to eat him like in the animated film. Another example was that Shere Khan kills the eldest wolf and holds them hostage like a thug but than tries to act suave like in the original cartoon making it seem like they are two completely different characters enrolled into one.

Another main problem is the lack of connection to the characters because the script moves from set piece to set piece without any time to let the characters develop their relationships. As a final note this film will keep children entertained and will fulfill your needs if your looking to purely be immersed in the jungle and will keep your kids entertained but it is unfocused.

The original animated film may not have been a faithful adaptation but it had a clear focus on what it wanted to be. Aside from its score and impressive visuals it is really nothing more than an average family movie.

It is fine from any other company but from Disney I expected better.